Green Party candidate JJ Power from the 2005 Kildare North By-election. JJ is son of former Fianna Fail TD Patrick Power and Brother of current Fianna Fail TD Sean Power. In the 2007 General Election both JJ Power and Brother Sean Power stood in Kildare South. Sean Power was elected.
(JJ at electionsireland.org)

Sarah Palin will be joining FoxNews, will she last more than 1 year?… Paddy Power is taking bets on it…. Read more

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An Irish bookmaker called Paddy Power (sic) has opened a book on the “next airline to go bust”.

They have announced which airline is the favourite, in spite of the fact that there appears to be no evidence of the airline concerned having any business issues. I will not repeat the (British) airline’s name on this blog, since I have no wish to further the surrilous and stupid rumour that this ridiculous bookmaker has started.

Suffice it to say that according to the airline concerned, it is “privately owned by wealthy shareholders and has accumulated substantial assets in its balance sheet over its 41 years of profitable trading”.

The airline said:

“[Our airline is] one of the UK’s leading low cost airlines and is the airline of choice for independent tour operators in the UK. It has recently launched a series of new routes to Turkey for Summer 2010 and has invested close to $1bn USD in a fleet of six Boeing 787 Dreamliners. It will be the second UK airline to take delivery of these aircraft. [We are] currently 2% ahead on scheduled load factors for December 2009 compared to the same month last year, with forward bookings into 2010 ahead of forecasts.”

Paddy Power should be ashamed of themselves. They claim to be “a household name synonymous with fun and entertainment”. This is not either fun or entertainment. This is playing with people’s jobs and livelihoods. Airlines, like banks, depend on confidence. Headlines about bankruptcy, no matter how fanciful, will damage that airline’s business.

How would Paddy Power feel if somebody opened a book on the bookmaker most likely to go bust, with themselves as favourite? They should change their names to Paddy Prats. And please go back to Ireland and stay there.

Paddy Power is Ireland’s largest bookmaker. Offline it conducts business through a chain of licensed betting offices and by operating Ireland’s largest telephone betting service. Online it offers sports betting, online poker, online bingo and online casino games.

Paddy Power was founded in 1988 by the merger of three existing Irish main street bookmakers. The company also markets its services in the UK and is a publicly quoted company, listed on the Irish and UK stock exchanges.

All Cheryl Cole fans need to make their way over to the Paddy power website. The Irish bookie has priced up a large number of specials about Cheryl Cole’s future including the Geordie singer to be made a Dame in the Queens Christmas Honours List.

Cheryl Has To Prove Acting Skills But Big Success Awaits

The shortest price of Paddy Power’s specials, and therefore the most likely to happen, is Cheryl to be cast in a blockbuster movie by the end of 2010. It seems she is keen to showcase her acting skills so Paddy Power offer just 3/1 on that happening. It had been reported she was being lined up for the Dr Who Christmas special but it doesn’t seem that is going to happen as Paddy Power offer 6/1 on that happening. Still with the acting theme, Paddy Power go 8/1 that Cheryl Cole is the new Bond Girl.

Cheryl Cole Looking To Crack America

Cheryl will of course be hoping to break America to increase her success. Paddy Power offer 6/1 that Fight For This Love reaches number 1 in the American Billboard charts. Massive success for Cole in America could lead to her meeting President Barrack Abama, Paddy Power go 11/1 that she is invited to meet President Obama at the White House in 2011. For more Cheryl Cole specials including her album to top the Billboard charts and Cole to become the Dr Who assistant in 2010 visit the Paddy Power website and click on Novelty Bets.

Source

The UK-based gambling group Paddy Power has added live dealers to its online gambling casino site, including live roulette, live blackjack, and live baccarat. Paddy Power is powered by Isle of Man and Alderney-licensed Evolution Gaming.

Paddy Power is powered by the same software as Victor Chandler, and the result of high end gaming with hot dealers comes accross very well. Visit www.paddypowercasino.com to check it out for yourself.

The first big jumping festival of the season kicks off this afternoon as the Paddy Power Open meeting in Cheltenham gets underway. The feature of three days of top class national hunt racing run in the shadow of Cleeve Hill is tomorrows Paddy Power Gold Cup – run over two and a half miles for a prize of £150,000…

There is no doubt we like nothing more than going to the home of jump racing in England and beating the ould enemy on their own soil and although no Irish horse has won the Paddy Power Gold Cup since 1980 hopes are high this year.

As ever the entries for Saturdays feature are dominated by champion trainer Paul Nicholls with four runners in the race headed by ante post favourite Poquelin. Although Nicholls has a poor record in the race (it is one of the few big races in England he has yet to win) Poquelin is still likely to go off favourite under Ruby Walsh.

He warmed up for the race with a comfortable win over course and distance in October but he disappointed before that when favourite at the festival in March. His trainer feels he is a stronger horse now although he may be better over a shorter trip. Added to the fact he will have to carry eleven pounds extra thanks to his last win make the favourite opposable at his current price of 6-1.

The champion trainer is also represented by the one of last season’s top novices Tatenen. He went off a warm favourite in the Arkle chase in March but fell early on and he is better judged by his win over this course last November. It is his first run since April so a place might be as much as he can hope for.

Nicholls best chance may be the 7/1 shot Chapoturgeon. He was an impressive winner of the Jewson Novice handicap chase at the festival and will also be having his first run of the season on Saturday. His two runs after the festival were disappointing but he is coming here a fresh horse and will be a danger to all under Timmy Murphy.

The powerful Alan King yard is represented by Tarotino who is as low as 7/1 with some bookies but will need to improve on all known form. Other notable home trained runners include the top weight and 2005 winner Our Vic and the Charlie Mann trained pair of Shining Gale and Gauvain.

Irish interest is headed by Northern Alliance and my idea of the winner Tranquil Sea. The Eddie O’Grady trained Tranquil Sea comes into the race in great form having won the grade three Poplar Square chase in Naas a fortnight ago.

The former grade 1 winning hurdler looked like he would go right to the top as a chaser when he made a winning debut at Cork last year but his form tailed off in the middle part of the season. He hinted at a return to form at the festival in March when staying on well for sixth after nearly getting rid of jockey Andrew McNamara a couple of times on the way round.

The ground and track should not be a problem to him and with a nice weight of ten stone thirteen to carry he looks like a solid each way bet at 8-1. With the O’Grady stable banging in winners all over the country, Tranquil Sea looks primed to be the first Irish winner of the race in 29 years.

TRANQUIL SEA EW@ 8/1 with Paddy Powers

Money back special with Paddy Power: If a Paul Nicholls trained runner wins the race, Paddy Power will refund your losing single stake

This week I have been asked to find twelve key words that can perfectly describe my website, Paddy Power, and be used as part of an Adwords campaign. I used the Google Keyword Tool which finds key words that have been searched for in that month and for the 12months previous. Typing paddypower.com into the ‘website content’ bar returned these results.

The screenshot below shows the different terms to which keywords have been put under when paddypower.com was searched. Most key words come under the term ‘betting’ which is expected. Other top key term come under football betting and sports betting which is the main reason of the website.

The result of a broad match type search shows a list of key words under different term headings. A broad match type means your ad is shown on similar phrases and relevant variations. For example, horse racing returned 1,830,000 searches in Google over the last 12 months. Whereas in a phrase match type search, which means your ad is shown for searches that match the exact phrase such as “horse racing”. This query returned 1,500,000 results in the last 12 months. The final match type search is exact which allows your ad to show for searches that match the exact phrase exclusively. An search including this would be [horse racing] which returned considerably less than the other two match types, 246,000.

For this search I took off ‘group keywords by common terms’ radio button to find how all keywords ranked in a list in relation to each other. This means the match type is not affected. Top 3 keywords in this search are sports, horse and horses. I believe many of my top keyword results are similar to others such as horse, horses, races and horse racing. I have limited this to just one keyword called horse racing in my list of twelve.

The graph below is from Google Insights for Search and shows the interest over time in paddypower.com. It also shows regional interest and as you can see Ireland is the main region of usage.

This time I used Googles search based keyword tool. I typed paddypower.com into the website box and the screenshot below shows the results I got. Results were surprising. I had expected the common keywords like betting, horse racing and gambling to be high but they weren’t in the list. Key words such as ‘win money’ and ‘online competitions’ were present along with Spanish results like ‘partidos en directo’.

My final list of 12 keywords would be:

Sports Betting

Horse racing

Gambling

Football betting

Bookies

Win money

Live betting

Free bets

Betting

Online bingo

Betting Odds

Paddy

I have chosen these 12 key words as I believe each of them best describe my e-commerce website.

Comment at end

18th November, 2009

NOT A FAMOUS BELGIAN – EVEN IN BELGIUM (Straw poll indicates half have never heard of him!)

According to this site not a lot of Belgians know who their Prime Minister is.

Excerpt:

Belgium’s little-known Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy has emerged as the latest frontrunner, or compromise candidate.  A straw poll of 10 people around the EU district in Brussels showed three knew he was Belgium’s leader, two said he was a Belgian politician, and five were completely unaware of him.

So, if at least half of this mix of EU officials, lobbyists and lawyers haven’t a clue who he is, what hope is there for the man or woman in Dublin, Warsaw or Prague ?

The previous favourite and long-time front-runner was former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The fact that he is on first-name terms with the world’s leaders and glitterati were his selling points.

Blair has the recognition factor. Important for the new EU president? It certainly SHOULD be.

Quite.

And I bet every one in this straw poll would have known who Tony Blair is.

Fills one with hope, does it not?

NOT.

Give me strength.

We can hardly wait for this guy to preside over the EU!

Can we?

Again – NOT.

The Independent asks – “Who will get the job and why is the role so contentious?”

Keep an eye on the betting here.

Using my website, Paddy Power Online, I have been asked to assess the ease with which you can find your site using a search engine. Typing Paddy Power into a search engine will obviously bring up paddypower.com as the top result so there was no need to perform this search. Instead I used key themes to perform a search and to see where my website was ranked.

Firstly, I used Google and searched ‘betting’. With this search, Paddy Power was ranked 8^th with its competitors William Hill, Ladbrokes, Bet365 and Betfair all above it. Paddy Power does have a paid for search result down the right hand side of the search. This is titled ‘Paddy Power Free £50’ which will be a pay per click ad.

Next, I did the same search but using a different search engine, Alta Vista. Again, Paddy Power is ranked 8th in the results though has a paid for search result at the top. Paddy Powers main competitors are still ahead of them in the search results but not as many as the Google search.

I performed another search suing 2 different search engines though changing the key theme. In Google, I searched ‘bookmakers’. In this search, only Coral and Wikipedia ranked higher than Paddy Power. None of Paddy Powers big rivals such as William Hill, Ladbrokes or Betfair appeared in the first page of results. William Hill did have a sponsored link though whilst Paddy Power did not on this occasion. I have a screen shown below.

I searched the same key theme within Alta Vista and my results were as follows. Paddy Power ranked 6^th with no sponsored link. Competitors such as William Hill and Coral were the only bookies to rank above them.

Overall, I think Paddy Power has performed quite well in search engines. In each search they have appeared on the first page and have quite a few sponsored links. I believe they are competing well with the mainland bookies considering they are an Irish based company.

I would say Paddy Power Online doesn’t use Upstream Supply Chain as they don’t have suppliers or intermediaries. The only information Paddy Power requires for its site is odds on the numerous different events it offers. These odds are set by the bookmaker and can vary throughout different gambling companys.

Downstream Supply Chain involves the transactions between an organisation and its customers. This is the only type of transaction that occurs on Paddy Power Online. Paddy Power displays the odds for an event on their website and a customer chooses these odds and places a stake to them. When the customer clicks the submit button then their stake is processed and they get a bet receipt with there even, odds, date and stake on it. You could also include the information a customer submits when signing up to an online account such as their bank number and security code. The customer is giving the company their card details which will be held within the company when a customer signs in.

A push supply model within Paddy Power could be offering special offers on events. This will attract customers into wanting to place a bet on this event. Offers such as ‘Place £20 on the winner of Chelsea v Liverpool and receive a free £5 bet on first goal scorer’ are common on the website. The free bets you receive when you create an online account could also be a push factor.

Pull factors could include offering better odds than other companys. As the biggest bookmaker in Ireland, Paddy Power will want to try and grow within the United Kingdom though it has massive competitive rivalry. Customers will obviously choose the company that has the best odds that will get them more money in return.

Paddy Power online would involve vertical integration as its activities are undertaken and controlled within the organisation. Paddy Power doesn’t use any third party to help with the supply chain.

I would say the Paddy Power supply chain is quite efficient. The job it has to do is take bets and pay out money if a bet is won. This is done every day without fail and customers keep coming back due to its professional action. If problems do occur with bets then live help is available and resolved within an hour of question.

Value networks in my website would be betting transactions which would be a tangible value. Another tangible value would be a receipt of a bet. Intangible values could be odds. They never stay the same and are changing frequently.

The Threat of Substitute Products and Services

Paddy Power does not have the threat of substitute products or services.

The Threat of the Entry of New Competitors

Paddy Power has many different rivals including William Hill and Ladbrokes, who are English based companys. With Paddy Power being the biggest bookmaker in Ireland then competition has been increased for the English based bookmakers. Paddy Power has to ensure they keep their high status within Ireland whilst also trying to make themselves bigger in the United Kingdom.

The Intensity of Competitive Rivalry

There is massive competitive rivalry within online betting. Different bookmakers will provide numerous offers each week on different events. Offers such as ‘Spend £20 on the outcome of Manchester United v Liverpool and receive a free £5 bet on first goalscorer’ are common around the different companys. To attract customers to sign up for their online account, bookies offer a free bet proposal. For example, open an account with Paddy Power and place a £25 bet and receive a free £25 bet. Different bookmakers offer different deals and whatever offer stands out to potential customers, this could sway their decisions. A companys website is also a big factor. A customer will enjoy coming to an easily accessible website than a website which cause trouble and frustrates the user. The most standout rivalry is probably what bookie offers the best odds for events. Bookies can change these as often as they wish up until the event starts and can even allow live betting on some events. Comparing various bookmakers on the outright winner for X Factor this is what I found out.

Ladbrokes – Lucie Jones – 6/1.

William Hill – Lucie Jones – 13/2.

Paddy Power – Lucie Jones – 8/1.

If you think Lucie Jones will win the X Factor then I know where I will be placing my bet.

The Bargaining Power of Customers/Buyers

Again best odds and promotions will sway a customer’s decision. Many people have more than 1 account online and if one site has better odds than the other then that bookie will get their business.

The Bargaining Power of Suppliers

This doesn’t apply to my site as online betting involves the company deciding on odds for different events and not be supplied from elsewhere.

Lloyd Daniels will be praying and hopefully singing better that he does not follow Rikki Loney and be the second of Cheryl acts to get the boot and leave the X Factor. He is 7/1 with Paddy Power to be eliminated on Sunday.

It is reported that Rikki was not happy with his mentor who performed her solo single on the X Factor. He said “She was really really nervous and we were being her mentor.” Whether Cheryl took her eye off her charges or not it is hoped that Lloyd can up his game and put in a solid appearance, he can be backed to win the show outright at 28/1 with Stan James.

Cheryl’s other act in the boys category is Joe Mcelderry at 4/1 with Bet 365, he is vying for favouritism to win the show with Danyl Johnson who is getting a lot of support with Boylesports at 4/1.

It is unlikely Joe will be voted off this weekend unless he completely freezes, his odds to be eliminated next are around the 100/1 mark with Blue Square.

If Cheryl, who can be backed at 7/2 with Bet 365 , is to be the winning X Factor manager for consecutive years then she will need to be focused on song choices for her remaining two boys this weekend.

Source

7. The terms and conditions for Paddy Power seem very reasonable. Basically the terms and conditions are telling the customer that what they enter into the website and confirm is what is held about you. Examples include the stake you enter and personal information. One term and condition I found unusual was Paddy Power does not accept bets or play from US Residents. I checked other competitors in the online betting business and got mixed answers. Labrokes has nothing mentioned about not accepting bets from US customers while Betfair does not accept bets from US customers.

A term and condition within Paddy Power which means bets cannot be returned or changed reads ‘It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure that all the details of their bets are correct. Once the transaction has been confirmed bets cannot be cancelled by the client.’ This is up to the customer to place their bet to their knowledge that it cannot be readjusted and returned.

8. Paddy Power knows it is vital that customers must be entirely satisfied that their personal details are 100% secure before they begin betting within the site. Paddypower.com uses a 128 bit SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption. This means that all personal and financial information sent to and from our site are encrypted to the highest industry standard and that only the Paddy Power staff can decrypt and read this information. Customers may be asked to verify the information they provide to help protect the PaddyPower company and themselves. This is carried out in accordance with the data protection act.

9. A cookie is a small file placed by a Web site on your computer’s hard drive. This file has no information about you personally, but identifies your computer when you return to our site. Paddy Power uses cookies within its site to help personalize the online experience for the customer. Cookies can track the length of time you spend on the site and to store frequently used user information.

Meg Predicts: "Sunderland three, Liverpool twoooooo"

Seeing as Mr.T has not yet driven his tank through my garden wall, and as I have not yet spotted any Snickers bars scattered around on my lawn, I can only assume that the mowhawked one approved of my report this week on what referee Alan Wiley has been up to during the international break.

This has put me in a good mood. As a result though, I am presented with a problem. You see, I had planned to write a bit of a tirade about Premier League scuffle-addict, and Dennis The Menace wannabe, Joey Barton. I was going to have a little rant, rate his face using the Lee Bowyer Smackablomator, and then enjoy the endorphins that my brain always kindly releases after a good old character assasination of an annoying footballer. In my current mood though, there is no way that I could do the man justice, so I’ve had to find something else to occupy myself.

Premier League predicitions aren’t that hard to write. Ask Mark Lawrenson. The basic rule is that if it’s a game between two teams quite evenly matched, it’ll either be a 2-1 win to the home side or some form of relatively low-scoring draw (e.g. 1-1. Although I imagine that providing you with an example of a low-scoring draw is fairly unnecessary). If you have a strong side against a weak side, it’s 3 or 4-0 if the strong side is at home, and 0-2 if they are playing away on a cart-track of a pitch in Wigan. Throw in one nil-nil bore each week, and you’re done.

Oh. Wait. The only other rule is that, if you’re Mark Lawrenson (if, on looking in the mirror, this does appear to be the case, please seek medical attention), you MUST at all costs write an undescribably biased prediction in favour of Liverpool.

Right, so the rules out of the way with, let’s have a look at what we’ve got in store for us this weekend:

Arsenal vs Birmingham

In their last game, Arsenal gave Blackburn the sort of beating that may potentially have forced Big Sam into reconsidering the ‘play a centre-half up front, and lump it long’ approach. That can only be good for the Premier League. Birmingham should expect to endure the same treatment from The Gunners this weekend too.

Paddy Power are already taking bets on the exact minute that Alex McLeish loses his voice from shouting at his players too much. You can also put a wager on the exact shade of red produced by the capillaries on the face of the hapless Scotsman, as he flails his arms about in his technical area in an attempt to get Barry Ferguson to track Cesc Fabregas, instead of making rude gestures behind the referee’s back.

Verdict: 4-0

Aston Villa vs Chelsea

Carlo Ancelotti this week did two things. He got a lap dance on Italian television, and then he compared John Terry to Paulo Maldini. I can see what he means. Both are loyal to their clubs, both are fighters on the pitch, both are defenders, and both are captains (or have been). That’s where Ancelotti’s comparison stops though.

You see, where Maldini has the quintessential character of the Italian footballer – intelligent, softly spoken, stylish, and good looking, Terry, by contrast, is guts-and-glory, loud, stupid, and has a face that wouldn’t be out of place in a Wheterspoons on a Saturday night. Surely I haven’t just described the quintessential English footballer? Oh… right.

Maybe Ancelotti had a point after all. All I know is that, come Saturday, points are not what Villa will be getting.

Verdict: 0-2

Everton vs Wolves

The thing is, Everton vs Wolves is not a very interesting game to talk about. If Everton were going to play against a pack of 11 wolves, all dressed up in football kits and little boots for their paws, then trust me I’d be all over the review of this game like beans on toast. The reality of it all though is that there will be no wolves. No stopping to bay at the moon. No targeting of the smallest Everton player and feasting on him at half time. Nothing.

All there will be is 11 men in gold shirts playing 11 men in blue shirts. The men in blue shirts will procede to score three goals, with the men in gold scoring none. Barring a mild attack of tourettes from Toffees goalkeeper Tim Howard, nothing exciting will happen. However if, like me, you would like English football to be as speicies-diverse as it is ethnically diverse, then how about we all write a stern letter to the Premier League? Word on the street is that Sheffield Wednesday are also interested in the idea.

Verdict: 3-0

Manchester United vs Bolton

He’s just like Dom Joly, that Fergie, isn’t he? Dom Joly, just without the oversized props.

Not content with angering the referee’s governing body last week, with his comments about podgy lard-ass Alan Wiley, professional prankster Sir Alex Ferguson has used the international break to try to wind-up Belgian club Standard Liege. Whilst everyone else’s postman was down the pub enjoying a good old strike, it seems that the United manager’s postie crossed the picket line, because Belgian wonderkid Steven Defour recieved a letter from the Scot this week.

At the letter’s heart Sir Alex expressed his best wishes to the injured playmaker, and reminded the boy that he was in his thoughts. I’m not sure how i’d feel if an old Scottish man wrote me a letter to tell me that I was ‘in his thoughts’, but Defour was supposedly delighted. Whether his club feel the same is another thing.

Verdict: 3-0

Portsmouth vs Tottenham

It’s impossible to write this one without asking the following question. Why did Harry Redknapp conduct a football-based interview in an aquarium on Wednesday afternoon? I think I have the answer.

As we all know, Baron Silas Greenback is now in one of the comfy boardroom chairs at Portsmouth. Greenback would clearly like to start his career as Pompey Director of Football with a win, so what does he do? Instead of sending exploding custard to every single one of the Tottenham players on the morning of the game, he decides to invite the manager of the opposition (rumoured to be partial to a backhander) into his secret evil lair. All secret evil lairs are based in locations largely covered by water, that’s just a fact, so what better place to conduct your business than a secret room in Portsmouth’s famous Blue Reef aquarium. Did Harry take the bung though?

Funnily enough, he did seem to talk awfully highly of his old club in the interview…

Verdict: 2-1

Stoke vs West Ham

This one’s the nil-nil.

Verdict: 0-0

Sunderland vs Liverpool

Sunderland gave Manchester United a real scare last time out. In fact it was Ben Foster who probably gave United the bigger scare, but I digress. The Mackems are on good form and, for Darren Bent, comparisons with Harry Redknapp’s wife Sandra have well and truly been consigned to his Twitter history. One problem I still have with Bent though, and I’ve mentioned this before, is the following… why does he have to wear headphones all the time, even when he’s being interviewed post-match? My only assumption is that he must be learning a language. If so, good luck to you Darren. Sorry, I mean ‘buena suerte’ (if in fact you are learning Spanish, or even reading this at all).

Liverpool have lost their last couple of games, and now have an injury to Steven Gerrard to cope with. Yossi Benayoun will feature for the reds, but is unlikely to have become any easier on the eye during the international break.

Verdict: 3-2

Blackburn vs Burnley

One game. Every weekend in the Premier League we get one of these. The sort of game that is less of a game, and more of an example of how to have a fight within the rules of football. So, lots of shoulder charging, slide tackling, clashes of heads, that sort of thing. There won’t be any football played. It’ll be an absolutely horrible spectacle. However, after 8 pints this game is the footballing equivalent of the girl accross the bar that suddenly got attractive, even though she definitely wasn’t when you sat down five hours ago.

Abnormaly appealing.

Verdict: 1-1

Wigan vs Man City

Alan Wiley is back and, as revealed on Eddie’s Football Blog, has spent the international break punching dead cow carcasses, running up steps, doing push-ups in the snow, and generally finding obscure ‘Rocky’ influenced techniques to get himself into top conditon in the limited timeframe he had at his disposal between Premier League fixtures. Will he now be able to out-sprint Craig Bellamy though? Probably not.

In fact, I don’t think anyone can out-sprint Craig Bellamy at the moment. In the sort of form the Welshman is in, I can see his pace being the difference between the two sides. His unique ability to get on everyone’s nerves will be another difference between the two sides.

Verdict: 1-2

Fulham vs Hull

Family club vs Family club, taking place in the only stadium in the Premier League to have a section for ‘neutral fans’. There are probably still some tickets available, why not buy a couple? Take the kids. Buy some candy floss. Play poo-sticks on Putney Bridge, and have a jolly nice Monday evening. The football won’t be great, but a giant badger wearing a Fulham shirt will do something funny at half time. The kids will like that.

Verdict: 1-1

4. Competitors of Paddy Power include Betfair and Ladbrokes. These are 2 London based bookmakers. They are 2 of the most widely used within the United Kingdom.

The graph below shows Paddy Power against 2 of its competitors in the online betting area. The graph is visits from American viewers and is only a rough estimate. As you can see from the graph, the more widely viewed company is Betfair.com. Ladbrokes isn’t too far behind in visits either. Lacking behind is PaddyPower.com though at this current time it is right behind Ladbrokes.com in page visits. The reason behind this is probably due to PaddyPower being an Irish based company against 2 mainland betting companys. The mainland has a higher population than Ireland so therefore many more people will use their English based betting companys.

http://www.quantcast.com/paddypower.com

5. These are the processes taken from going to PaddyPower.com to getting your receipt from placing a bet. Firstly, typing PaddyPower.com into the browser will go directly to your website. Browsing through your website until you find what you want. When you find what you want, a bet slip will appear. It will show your choice, the odds of your choice and the stake you would like to use. Clicking the Bet Now button will place your bet and a bet receipt will appear.

Some of the technologies used in typing the web address into the browser and purchasing include encryption and a payment processor.

6. Digital television betting has been introduced quite recently such as SkyBet. I don’t think this kind of channel will affect online betting too much. It is just as convenient to go to the computer and log into your online account and place bets than sit on your sofa and use your remote control. ITV has also an digital tv betting area. Maybe with the growth of betting and with a few companies already with digital tv betting, more companies will follow their lead.

Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Thoughts?

Update: A reader points me to an article published yesterday by The Economist on the odds of winning the Nobel Peace Prize:

And here is the best line from the short article:

In recent years the prize-giving academy has been critised for awarding the prize for services to non-specific do-goodery rather than for promoting peace directly.

I guess the criticism stands.

Redknapp: T'riffic bet for the chop

In this week’s unerringly irreverent and complicatedly far fetched take on a story from the last seven days in the world of football, we look at old Twitcher ‘imself – ‘Appy ‘Arry.

Two things. Firstly, I promise that the next ‘episode’ will not be another Spurs-based adventure into the depths of my imagination (I’m sorry but this story was too good not to feature). Secondly, I promise that not every word beginning with ‘H’ will be abbreviated as if the ‘Droopy’ lookalike was writing this himself. Most will though.

Anyway, if you are a betting man you would’ve noticed some strange goings on last week. As all football fans know, the annual ‘Managerial Sack Race’ this season ‘as been firmly between ‘Yougottafeelsorryforhim’ Pompey manager Paul Hart, and Sam Allardyce prodigé (and bluetooth headset afficionado) Phil Brown of ‘ull City.

For the benefit of those reading this article (mainly my girlfriend) who are now trying to picture two grown men at a charity sports day ‘opping along in an old potato sack, I’m sorry to ruin the wonderful image you’ve mustered up there, but i’m talking more along the lines of P45 forms.

That being the case then, Paddy Power bookmakers were mystified last week as, due to a sudden increase in the amount of punters backing ‘arry Redknapp to be the first managerial casualty in the Premier League, they found themselves slashing ‘is odds for the chop. People still kept on throwing their money at the bet though, so much so that by lunchtime on Friday all bets were off. Old droopy chops had leapt ahead of ‘art and Brown, and was starting to think of the egg and spoon race at 3pm.

Why all the money on old Redders though?

Well, the gossip-hounds on the internet suddenly all became experts on Friday, claiming to know all about it. With screennames like ‘LoverLover6969′, they queued up to spread the juicy gossip they had undoubtedly just got from the man himself. They cited tax reasons. The Inland Revenue were onto Sandra’s Swiss Bank account, they claimed. A rambler in the Himalayas had perhaps found one of ‘arry’s brown paper bags of Romanian notes from the Florin Raducioiu deal, ‘idden in a yeti’s cave. Then they ‘revealed’ that the police and all the associated press were all on their way to White Hart Lane, where Redknapp was to be cuffed and jailed.

Blimey. With such trustworthy experts on the pulse of the story, what would ‘appen next? What would the Tottenham manager do? In an exclusive to Eddie’s Football Blog, the story of the week is seen in a new light below.

As you can see, where ‘arrison Ford has gone before ‘im, ‘Arry has gone on the run from the law. He’s done well too, and despite his conspicious choice of vehicle (the yellow Robin Reliant that he lent to the set of Only Fools And Horses all those years ago), he has made it over the Atlantic to the States.

Will ‘arry make it? Will Triesman stamp out corruption in football? Will Darren Bent wear headphones in his next television interview? Will Tom Huddlestone find the McDonalds in Mexico City?

Comments below!

If you want to get involved and do your own Microsoft Paint Story Of The Week, then draw it in Paint, and send it to me at eddiesfootballblog@hotmail.co.uk. If it is funny it doesn’t matter how crap the drawing is (the crapper the better actually!), and it will make it on the site! No Photoshop!

1. The website I have chosen is Paddy Power Online Betting. Paddy Power is Irelands largest bookmaker and has a reputation for funny and often controversial advertising.

The website offers sports betting, online poker, online bingo and online casino games. The website has a login where you will need to be signed into your own account to be able to place any bets. This is where you deposit and withdraw money to and from your account.

2. Being Ireland’s biggest bookmaker, the company has many stores around the country. As of October 31st 2008, Paddy Power operated a total of 258 retail outlets (190 in Ireland, 8 in Northern Ireland and 60 within the UK).

In 2007, turnover was over €2billion, up 13% from 2006. The underlying operating profit rose to €72 million, up 53% on 2006.

Taken from the Independant.ie – Paddy Power betting on profit boost by year-end

Bookmaker Paddy Power expects a run of good luck to boost operating profit 14pc this year to €82m, significantly ahead of consensus forecasts.

The number of employees working within Paddy Power is 1374.

Profits for 2003 – 2007

3. The web isn’t the only channel behind my website. There are stores located around Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK with 4 located at racecourses. The shops are modern, clean, air conditioned environments including the fun atmosphere the company is known for. Inside the shops are top quality audio and video equipment to provide customers a friendly and entertaining experience.

Another channel within my company is telephone betting. Launched in 1996, the telephone betting market leads the market in Ireland whilst is growing in the UK.

Along with betting online, the website offers casino, bingo, poker and games where money can be staked and won.

According to a story on the Metro newspaper’s website, bookmakers Paddy Power made a huge blunder by paying out early on Tiger Woods winning the US PGA golf at the wkend, to the tune of £1.3 million.

They paid out at the halfway stage, when Tiger Woods was 5 shots clear and at odds of 1/5.

However, unknown Korean Yang Yong-eun won the title by 3 shots, after an excellent comeback.

I imagine the P45 might be in the post for someone!

Full story on Metro website